ACP-332
PROBLEM It is often necessary to operate in locations with inconsistent spacetime. However, operating in such areas is risky, chiefly due to the possibility of getting lost. While getting lost is a fairly trivial problem in normal space, it becomes dramatically more difficult to solve in inconsistent spacetime. There are a number of examples of research teams and assets becoming unrecoverable due to this problem, the most striking of which is Incident Maroon-8423a. During a routine survey of an extradimensional space, members of survey team Tamaraw became stranded and lost within only a few meters of their base camp when the spacetime shifted unexpectedly1. While the event only lasted 18 seconds of outside time, by the time space returned to its original shape, most of the research team had starved to death. With appropriate spacetime mapping tools, this tragedy could have been avoided entirely. SOLUTON We propose the development of a portable device for mapping and navigating inconsistent spacetime. The device would use off-the-shelf spacetime measuring equipment in conjunction with a 6th order Grunewald-Meier system solver1 in order to provide its primary functionality. The device could also be used in conjunction with a stationary mainframe via subspace radio, to provide additional capacity. The spacetime measuring equipment will consist of an 8-axis differential chronometer, and a Herbst dimensionality gauge. This configuration has been shown to be capable of mapping nontrivially distorted spacetime sufficiently accurately for our purposes.2 The subspace radio component could potentially be constructed using off-the-shelf components, but due to space constraints, the antenna assembly will probably need to be custom. The CPU and associated hardware would be able to take advantage of the special functions of the Motorola 68883 math co-processor to compute solutions to Grunewald-Meyer systems within acceptable timescales. BUSINESS CASE This device would be an important asset for future operations in inconsistent spacetime, due to the ability to effectively mitigate many of the associated risks. This would allow other research to be conducted more cheaply, safely, and effectively, reducing costs and allowing much higher productivity. Additionally, there is a large untapped market for this type of device, both from normalcy preservation organizations and other paratech users, as well as in the civilian and government sectors. Market research indicates that the SCP Foundation would be a prime customer for this equipment, due to their frequent operations within regions with inconsistent spacetime. The Global Occult Coalition would also be a major customer for this equipment. The devices could potentially go for upwards of $150k per unit. There could also be applications in the civilian and government sectors as a high-precision geolocating device. Since the same principles used to map highly-distorted spacetime would also work in less-severe conditions, the devices would be able to compensate for the frequent minor spacetime distortions that diminish the accuracy of traditional GPS. Additional models with different levels of capability could also be designed in order to hit different price points of different potential clients. The additional capacity afforded by connecting a device to a mainframe over subspace radio could be offered as a subscription service for in the neighborhood of $10k per year. This service would also allow us to collect information from our clients, for use in targeted advertising and other marketing tasks. UES OF FUNDING We request $30 million USD grant toward designing and producing this device. The funds will be used as follows: (All prices are in USD.) $2M for product design, broken down into: * $800k for 10 full-time engineering personnel for 12 months. * $600k for prototype construction. $600k for testing and validation; in addition we will need access to regions of inconsistent spacetime for field testing. * $11M for design and construction of a mainframe server capable of supporting the augmented capacity service. * Estimated $500k for manufacturing setup, including purchasing factory space and equipment. * Estimated $16M for an initial run of 200 units at $80k eack, broken down into: ** $12k for the differential chronometer. ** $14k for the dimensionality gauge. ** $35k for the Motorola 68020 processor, 68883 coprocessor, and 2MB RAM. ** $3k for the subspace radio hardware. ** $6k for power supply and associated hardware. ** $2k for enclosure, display hardware, PCB manufacture, and assembly. ** $8k for QA testing. KNOWN ISSUES One of the major problems with previous attempts at spacetime mapping has been the inability to compute the required solutions fast enough to prevent rapidly-shifting spacetime from disrupting the computation. While this is ultimately an intractable problem, the use of the 68883 accelerator chip to speed up the calculation should help to mitigate this. Previous attempts at using subspace radio to provide subscription services has met with failure due to limited bandwidth availability. However, this device will primarily be used within inconsistent spacetime, and as a result can take advantage of the local inconsistency to more effectively compress communications, allowing sessions to be handled more efficiently. Bibliography # Glover, C. (1985, Feb 10). Applications of the Grunewald-Meier Equations to Spacetime Mapping. Journal of Applied Paramathematics, 12, 101-108. # Fellows, D. A. & Goris, J. D. (1988, Oct 10). Enhanced Spacetime Mapping Using Differential Chronometry Data. Anomalomatics Review, 68(3), 15-22. Category:Item Arsenal